The Fulton Hornets' offense helped overcome a bevy of fielding blunders.
Despite committing an astounding 10 errors, Fulton snapped its four-game losing streak with a 14-9 defeat of the Eldon Mustangs on Tuesday night.
"It was a strange game; the routine wasn't routine," Hornets head coach Darren Masek said. "We couldn't catch pop-ups, couldn't field ground balls, couldn't make throws - it was a strange night."
Fulton (2-4) started quickly by producing three runs in each of the first two innings to establish a 6-1 advantage. Eldon capitalized on the Hornets' scoreless top of the third - the only inning in which they didn't score - and plated three runs in the bottom half to draw within 6-4.
Fulton stretched its lead back to three with a run in the fourth, but the Mustangs used a three-run home run in their half of the inning off Fulton junior starter Tristan Steffens to tie the game at 7-all.
With the bases loaded and down to the final strike of the Hornets' fifth, sophomore shortstop Josh Quick lined a single to center, bringing home sophomore first baseman Cameron Vititoe and sophomore second baseman Luke Gray to put Fulton back in front for good at 9-7.
Both teams finished with eight hits, but the Hornets cashed in on eight walks and seven stolen bases to supplement their scoring.
"We hit the ball better tonight, better than we have all season," Masek said. "We got some walks. We were very aggressive on the bases and that set up a lot of scoring opportunities for us."
Fulton added three runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh. The Mustangs logged a run apiece in the final two innings to close out their scoring.
Steffens allowed eight runs -three earned - in six innings to collect the win. He gave up seven hits, struck out three and walked two.
At the plate, Steffens finished 3-for-4 with a double and six runs batted in to spark the Hornets. Quick was 1-for-2, senior reliever Blake Thompson was 1-for-5 with and RBI and sophomore catcher Isaiah Pani went 1-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.
The Hornets resume North Central Missouri Conference play at Kirksville at 5 p.m. Thursday.